Four things the Bears did right and four wrong against Kansas City

"The guys came out, they played hard," coach Ben Johnson said. "You have a blocked kick and things like that on teams you don't feel good about.

"For us to come away with a win there at the end was remarkable. Some individual performances stood out. Daniel Hardy, I thought was tremendous getting the sack-fumble. That was huge for us. That really changed the game. And then Jahdae Walker, in particular, there on that last drive was outstanding."

Walker had put his toes down along the sideline to start the drive off with a 15-yard catch and then followed with a 16-yarder and later the 6-yard winning TD with three seconds remaining.

Johnson had left his starting offense in after the Bears starters fell behind 17-0, in a manner reminiscent of many of last year's losses. This one ended right after the starting offense drove for 10 first-half points against Chiefs subs.

"We had a number of snaps in mind and we hadn't hit that threshold yet so we were really sticking to a plan," Johnson said, explaining why they left in the starters until halftime.

The slow start had Johnson fuming a bit.

"We gotta get better in a hurry," he said. "I think it's out of our system, hopefully, for us going into the regular season. But we've got to make sure we start faster on offense and on defense."

What the Bears did right

1. Refused to quit once they trailed

They were down 17-0, 20-3 and then 20-10 at halftime, but 27-10 in the third quarter before Bagent rallied them. Bagent threw three TD passes a week after he had three against Buffalo.

2. Space for the receivers

Whether it was starters like Rome Odunze with three catches for 45 yards, Walker and Olamide Zaccheaus with three receptions for 37 yards each or Wilson, with four catches for 29 yards and a TD, the Bears receivers caught it in places where they had room to run and move the sticks. It led to 310 yards passing.

3. Powerful running when needed

D'Andre Swift had his first appearance of preseason and gained 28 yards on seven carries, but he had two big third-and-short runs when he powered through tacklers for first downs. These were the types of runs the Bears starter didn't seem capable or willing to make last year. Brittain Brown and Royce Freeman also ran with power in a game when rushing yards were tougher to come by for Bears backs with 77 yards on 25 carries.

4. Roster push

Players like Walker, Scott and Wilson made real clear they want to stick around with their late-game performances. The same was true for Hardy, who has been a key special teams player in the past. Did they do enough to persuade coaches? Some players who didn't play, like Devin Duvernay and Case Keenum, might be players the coaches think they need even if they didn't get on the field.

What the Bears did wrong

1. Cairo Santos' kicking

A blocked extra point and a 47-yarder off the upright made it a preseason to forget for Bears special teams. Their performance in the preseason opener had been shaky as well.

2. Slow early start

A botched handoff early that Caleb Williams mishandled, penalties and general sloppiness prevailed on the first two drives for the Bears offense.

"Bad ball handling, "Johnson said of the fumbled handoff. "We walked through all the openers to start the game and we didn't execute them real well."

It's an issue if they can't move the ball on first-team defenses. Key to their poor start was Williams holding the ball too long, and Johnson didn't mind admitting this after the game.

"Last week was a really good start for us," Johnson said of Williams getting rid of the ball quickly. "This week wasn't quite the same, it didn't feel like. Once again we'll take a look at that and see what we need to address with that."

3. Man-to-man pass defense

One potential underlying issue for the Bears is their conversion from a zone to a man-to-man team. Until they faced Patrick Mahomes, this didn't seem to be a problem. Mahomes has a knack for dissecting defenses and he exposed Nahshon Wright's poor coverage, while later the Chiefs did the same to the Bears' Tre Flowers. Even starter Tyrique Stevenson got beat badly while matched up in the end zone on Rashee Rice.

4. First team pass rush

Part of the reason for the poor man-to-man coverage in the first half was, of course, the lack of a pass rush. It's about rush and cover. They had no rush and the coverage became difficult to achieve. Hardy's strip-sack in the second half proved to be their only sack.